Laptop or Desktop?

[The Edit doctor]

You’ve kind of answered your own question here I guess. You need a laptop.

I’ll tell you this. I just edited a National TV show (offline DV) on my MacBook…not Pro…MacBook. I have 2gigs of Ram I installed myself because it was just plain cheaper that way. I used a Medea G-Raid drive but I had to run firewire 400 (there’s no 800 on the macbook).

You can’t put Kona or Decklink Cards in these things- laptops I mean. You’ll be editing off the computer screen mostly too so it’s suited for offline in that fashion because to you need a NTSC monitor to view final output so for that you’ll use a DV deck or camcorder to view on an NTSC monitor and for finishing or judging final quaility…that’s pretty important. That’s where cards like Decklink for Mac Towers come in handy.

I still have a Tower at home..but I’m not there as much anymore and this MacBook is doing what “I” need to do. Create offline cuts on the road. You need the CrossGrade Universal Final Cut Pro too.

As for Motion – I don’t have it installed. I do understand it’s not ideal for my laptop situation… but I don’t use it this way. Think about that.

If you are to get a laptop for serious work…I think the group here will agree that the new MACBOOK PRO is the answer. The Macbook doesn’t have a designated graphics card so it eats up your ram.

I’m good with my situation but this may not meet your needs. Again, though… I think you’ve answered your own question regarding what you need. Just get RAM and drive space. Installing the Ilife suite eats up lots of harddrive space if you need that for idvd perhaps.

Mike (::[ ]::)

[Ben Holmes]

There are not many professional editors who would advocate a laptop as a main machine for edit work. I can see the appeal, especially with the travelling, but a desktop will give you an upgradeable, more powerful system that you can plug a decent graphics card into, faster and bigger disk arrays (including a huge internal array), multiple monitors etc etc.

That’s before you consider what happens if something goes wrong, and you have to swap out a system drive….

If you make a living out of this and you work in DV, get the ‘basic’ spec Mac Pro and a Macbook for the road when you can afford it.

Ben

Editec Broadcast Editing Ltd

EVS & FCP specialists for live OB operations. FCP systems just used on Sky Sports coverage of the Ryder Cup – live from the K Club.

“The Supercar Run” now available for international distribution from http://www.electricsky.com

[Debe]

I opted for the tower first. The laptop came about six months later, when I started travelling. Both paid for themselves within months of purchase.

I am very happy for the speed of my tower when I need it, and very happy for the portability of my laptop when I need it.

I honestly don’t think I could go back to having just one, either one. Having two, I can multitask time-consuming chores. Plus, I’m not tempted to surf the internet or check email when I’m capturing or logging on the tower, since I have the laptop.

Yeah, having to buy two licenses for FCP back then was kinda spendy, but it’s been worth it. Although I understand that the license changed with FCP 5.1 and one is allowed to install on a tower and a laptop if one owns both. Is one allowed to run them simultaneously, though?

debe

[Uli Plank]

No, you are not allowed to run them simultaneously!

But apart from that, it’s a great combination. Actually, the little non Pro MacBook performs very well with 2 GB RAM, it can handle HDV and even DVCProHD natively and it supports two screens – we are using a 24″ Dell on it. Even the graphics are not as weak as some think, Motion performs better than on the standard card in a Dual G5 not even two years old. And we’ve only tested the first model, the new ones should be even faster regarding CPU (not the graphics).

If you are not doing heavy effects, just straight editing most of the time, it’s a remarkable lttle machine!

Regards,

Uli

Author of “DVDs gestalten und produzieren”, a book on professional DVD-authoring in German.

[Pablito]

Thanks everybody…

I usually work for theatre video, video art, live performances, commercials and, during the last year, news and video documentaion.

I do not have a studio since I live in small town and I usually travel for working…

My G4, as I said is quite old , even if it performs very well in what I usually do but it’s heavy to bring with me also if I usually do if my client has not his own machine…

I can’t afford 2 new machines at the moment because I am investing my money to create a small society with a photographer and to work for events’ documentation and theatre performances…

Does it make sense to buy a laptop as my new main machine for the first year and then buy a desktop when I can afford it?

Maybe is it better to keep my G4 MDD 867DP at home? I never used Motion on it because of the poor graphic card… Does it make sense to upgrade the graphic card on the G4 and keep it even if I buy a MacBookPro?

[Debe]

Pablito-

For your situation, I think the laptop would be a better fit initially. Just know that you won’t get the same speed as you would with a desktop, but you WILL get faster performance than what you’re used to, so it’s relative!

I don’t know about running Motion on an older CPU like that, upgraded graphics card or not. Sorry.

debe